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“I hate to bail on you, hon, but I’m already running late. I’ll meet you out in the lot in an hour,” she says, reminding me that she has an extra tuition session after school. Abby has a creative mind, not an academic one, luckily for her, her parents have money, so they can afford extra tuition for her. And it looks like I’ll be stuck in this flimsy athletics uniform until she’s done because she’s my ride home.
I usually go to the library and do homework while I wait for her, but I can hardly go there dressed like this. Abby kisses my cheek, offering me a guilty smile before dashing out of the locker room.
I wait a little while longer to be sure the boys locker room is completely empty, then after heading out to the corridor I call out a warning before stepping inside. The room is steamy but from what I can tell, empty.
I choke on all the overused aerosol, despite the smell of sweat still lingering, and do a quick scan of the benches. I’m not at all surprised when I find my white gym bag resting on the far side of the room. I’m so relieved I can change back into normal clothes, until I open the zip, and a strong smell of ammonia suddenly attacks my nostrils.
Urine.
I stand and stare at my sodden clothes, shocked and fucking speechless. Luke has taken it too far this time. He’s actually pissed on my clothes.
I try, but fail miserably to stop myself bursting into tears. My loud, ugly sounding sobs echo from the walls and I’m just thankful there’s no one here to witness them.
When I get the feeling someone’s watching me I sniff my tears back, forcing them to stop, and spin around to seeNyx leaning against the doorframe watching me. I don’t know how long he’s been there but his eyes are venomous and his crossed arms are clenched so tight I can see the white of his knuckles bleeding through his tattoos.
“Too fuckin’ far.” His head shakes slowly before he pushes his shoulder off the door and disappears. I don’t chase after him, I haven’t got the energy to. Instead, I slump down on the bench and cry into my hands.
I remember admitting to Nyx last night that Luke scared me, Nyx told me he’d never let him hurt me and I remember believing him on that. Something tells me that Luke is about to get that lesson Abby said he needs. I can tell by the way Nyx stormed out of here that he isn’t gonna let this go, and he’s already in so much trouble because of me.
I stand up and dry my eyes, rushing to the door of the boys locker room to try and stop Nyx from doing something stupid. But I’m too late. The footsteps are already approaching. Hard, heavy ones that thunder towards me. At first, I worry that they belong to Luke and when I see that it’s Nyx who steps into the room, I don’t have time to be relieved, because he has Luke with him, dragging him across the floor by his collar like a child throwing a tantrum in the grocery store.
Every part of Nyx’s body is tense as he tosses Luke into the middle of the locker room floor.
“Nyx… I…” He ignores me, slamming his boot hard into Luke’s stomach and releasing all of the air from his lungs. I step back and watch, knowing I should try and stop him. He’s going to get himself suspended, but the look of determination Nyx has shadowing his eyes makes me doubt God himself could stop him.
“You had a warning…” Nyx grabs my bag and thrusts it hard into Luke’s chest. Then gives him no chance to react before pulling his helpless body towards the toilets. I follow them, watching on as Nyx kicks open the cubicle door with such a rough swing it almost comes off the hinges. And then I cringe because I know what’s coming. Nyx is gonna give Luke Robinson a swirly.
A real bad move if he ever planned on graduating Castle Rock High.
“Nyx don’t, you’ll get into trouble,” I call out, but Nyx doesn’t seem to be hearing me. Or if he does, he’s choosing to ignore me. He throws Luke to the floor and wedges his open laced boot between Luke’s neck and shoulder, forcing his head to rest on the toilet seat. I can’t stand here and watch Nyx fuck up, not when all this is because of me. I turn and run out of the changing rooms, into the gym. There’s nothing I can do or say that is gonna stop him. Something untamed has taken over inside him and now he has tunnel vision on hurting Luke.
The gym is already set out ready for the basketball game tomorrow. All the bleachers are pulled out around the court. So I sit on one of the benches and try to breathe.I wonder if I should get some help, maybe even call a teacher before things go too far. Nyx looked capable of murder when I’d left them. But I’m too scared of getting Nyx inany more trouble.
Tapping my foot against the metal grate flooring, I wait anxiously until the door bursts open and Luke runs out. He’s soaked from the chest down and I wonder how Nyx managed to swirly him and keep his head dry. Luke doesn’t even notice I’m sitting watching as he runs through the gym and out of the door that leads to the corridor. And I’m not sure if I should wait here for Nyx or leave, but guilt weighs me down, fixing me to the bleacher I’m sat on.
Nyx swaggers out from the locker room not too long after, as if nothing’s happened, and he stops when he sees me like he’s surprised I’m still here. Standing up, I drag down my embarrassingly short gym skirt and jog my way down the stairs to meet him in the middle of the court.
“You know, that was a really dumb thing to do,” I scold him, trying hard not to smile. As satisfying as it felt seeing Luke get what he deserves, this is serious. Nyx could get in a lot of trouble.
He just shrugs back at me in response.
“How did you manage to swirly him and keep his head dry?” I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing at the image of Luke Robinson with his head down the toilet. I kinda wish I’d hung around to see it now.
Nyx stares at me confused, his eyebrow raising slightly and lifting the nostril he wears the ring through.
“I didn’t swirly him…” he shakes his head at me and for a second I feel kinda relieved for Nyx’s sake. “…I did to him what he did to your stuff,” he tells me casually, and my mouth falls open in shock.
This is bad.
“I warned him, and he didn’t listen,” Nyx explains as if that makes it all okay.
“Nyx, you can’t do things like that around here.” I bury my head in my hands, and he grabs at my wrists and wrenches them away again.
“But he can do what he did to you and expect no consequences?” His head shakes at me again. “That’s bullshit, Ell.” I sense all his anger building up again but I love the fact that he just shortened my name. Nobody does that anymore.
“You need to start sticking up for yourself or he’s always gonna piss on you one way or another,” he snaps, and my lips lift when I note the irony in what he’s said. Nyx must notice that too because he closes his eyes before sniggering himself.
I don’t hold back, letting myself giggle out loud and feel the mood instantly lighten. Then just asthings are about to turn serious again, we’re interrupted by the sound of muffled voices.
